I never had a kernel extension (driver) crash on OS X nor my friends did. You can thank to lack of 3rd party devices for it;)
I just bought a Serial-USB converter and it naturally comes with a kernel extension which is installed to/System/Extensions.
In light of current story, I wondered what happens if a badly written extension crashes or it doesn't handle the device itself malfunction. Does it get unloaded? Do I get the stylish OSX BSOD? Does it get reloaded (launchd)?
I think if it gets unloaded gracefully or reloaded, Apple's lack of Windows culture is to blame. It was same deal when Safari spitted all kinds of files to users Desktop bug. It took a while to make Apple understand what kind of a horrible security risk it is. I suicidally said on all Apple fan sites "Apple should hire windows only developers to code for Windows".
About the conspiracy... Not just they did actually broke OS X security (Office install under 502 was a big deal), they keep breaking OS X compatibility and performance with possible horrible system wide browser crashes right now. "How?", by giving users option to install this piece of junk: http://preview.tinyurl.com/3blyfx (Windows Media Player for OS X)
Giving away Windows Media Player/PPC, a code not touched since 2003, runs in Browser thread (plugins), has DRM layer running at admin level (nobody knows if it works). A plugin runs in Browser thread, half of Safaris would crash before Apple notices it and guess what? They can't touch third party plugin code too. If it is based on Netscape plugin standard, files are there, it will get loaded.
How hard is it to put: "Up to OS X 10.3.9 and PowerPC only" notice? Did they forget to remove the offer? No! Their site had overhaul recently and those idiots also submitted it to Apple downloads. At least Apple downloads team should say "Stop! What the hell are you doing? Didn't you globally license working (flip4mac) modern code?" and reject it. If they had "Report bad software/malware" link, I wouldn't wait a second to click it.
Apple is in fact a merciless company compared to Microsoft. Just watching logs on Leopard would give a clue:
"2008-09-10 17:10:16.835 freedroid[24652:10b] Warning once: This application, or a library it uses, is using NSQuickDrawView, which has been deprecated. Apps should cease use of QuickDraw and move to Quartz."
Being mean to 3rd party you say? No, even Apple themselves aren't free of anything
"Aug 29 12:16:31 quad/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemUIServer.app/Contents/MacOS/SystemUIServer[181]: CPSPBGetProcessInfo(): This call is deprecated and should not be called anymore."
If it was Microsoft, they would still warn but somehow would keep supporting the old API forever. The result? Every Application vendor happily using GDI instead of DirectDraw (or whatever modern framework) and giving users a horrible experience. In OS X, developer knows Apple really means it and just a year or 2 years later, his Application will simply create a polite crash (mentioning 'I told you so' kind of tip) and refuse to run.
Sadly, that results in so called Enterprise keeping to use Windows since there is Microsoft there so they can keep using that 16bit junk library no matter if it works 1/4 of speed so the 80% of market belonging to Apple won't happen. Of course, lets not forget it doesn't mean backward compatibility doesn't exist. If coded cleverly, listening to Apple warnings, Application will run all fine. Proof is ICQ from 2003 still running on Leopard without any warning.
The IBM Z/OS and AIX, Sun Solaris are at such a level that they would alert the respective companies before anything catastrophic actually happens and while systems running on a parallel sysplex backup system without any employee figuring it, IBM/Sun engineers would be fixing the issue. Ask any serious bank why they keep buying/using mainframes.
My E65 from Nokia had that thing embedded in device ROM. In fact, you can download additional languages via "Download!" in phone root menu. It has a new model (E66) which I am almost sure have same or better feature. The "E" series are business devices and E6x series are the tiniest screen having phones available. It doesn't make sense to pay for some great LCD screens for blind people.
The stuff I talk about could be the "talks" licensed to Nokia BTW.
S60 is a clear winner because of the gigantic 3rd party software market along with excellent J2ME support. It is not just Nokia, any S60 (Symbian) phone is a good choice for scenarios like that.
Nokia is also known for having "TTY" profile in every phone they manufacture. (for the deaf I guess)
I think it is really hard for some people to understand that not everyone disliking Windows likes Linux or FreeBSD.
If one remembers these are the people who paid more than Windows 95 to IBM and the fact that OS/2 was/is a commercial operating system, it will be easier to understand.
I notice a lot of the OS/2 community migrated to Apple OS X. On the other hand, some people could be still happy with OS/2. It is not Windows 95 or 98, it is a 32 bit operating system still having some software released. One can have both OS/2 on a PC and PS/3 for games.
The interesting thing about OS/2 community is, it is very hard to find any clueless fanatics. Even in 1995, unless you claimed a completely stupid thing like "MS-DOS is better than OS/2" or "Windows 95 is 32bit", they (especially team os/2) would listen.
I am on OS X now and I can't find quality ezines, communities like OS/2. I find myself sometimes posting as AC to Apple related stories since I am sick of fanatic community.
That excellent DOS and Windows (3.1, win32s) support along with IBM's "mainframe" attitude towards ordinary developers marked doom of OS/2. I remember saving a companies accounting department from a massive hardware upgrade just by (ab)using OS/2 DOS support. All software time-warped to 32bit OS along with excellent (and MS written) Filesystem which was ages ahead of FAT. Just think how to convince that software developer to code 32bit OS/2 software while their DOS code runs better than original on OS/2.
Games? Same deal. I remember running Quake (either 1 or 2) while downloading OS/2 updates.
Also look at the OS X gaming scene after Intel. Although great,Mac only game development houses keep coding native games, EA etc. all jumped to Cider ship and selling Windows games to OS X users. They call us "elitist", we are just afraid of what would happen.
"The US Army use iPhones and develop specific software for it.. you can bet it's encrypted and that remote wipe works."
So to get a secure iphone, you have to apply to marines and become a soldier?
That is my point. All animals must be equal. Every byte of data which isn't part of device ROM is very private data. It doesn't have to be military secret. Your home number is equally private too.
If I was Google guy, I would be very alerted about that recycled joke. People started to make Microsoft jokes about Google, the "Anti Microsoft".
Microsoft has a huge enterprise business, software business, operating systems and even very respected peripheral business. Google has one business: *.google.com . Once that guy doesn't use Google because he believes they are evil, Google is gone for good.
BTW I don't believe a Fortune 500 company cuts/pastes service terms. If they actually do it, it is worse.
Keep hoping for Mac/Linux when they go with Windows Media technology. Remember I said it when you monkey with some unsupported junk, I wonder how will you get past Wmedia DRM. Boot to windows right?
Real is available to anything having 100+ Mhz CPU. I don't mention devices or operating systems. Look to anything in production, Real is supported on it.
They may have passed Sony in electronic sales but this "prediction" alone proves Samsung has a long way to go.
I am staring at 2 Samsung monitors now, got Samsung Plasma, their DVD player and let me say: Electronically high quality stuff but NOT Sony. When you press "source" button 4 times to switch between set top box and attached computer or when you have to colour calibrate your LCD via Pantone Huey, staring at "Windows Vista Compatible!" stupid sticker, you would understand my point.
If Pioneer, JVC, Toshiba (to some extent) predicted something like that, I would read but this time, I don't really care about FA.
I think Samsung has to go to a professional movie/TV studio and look at resolutions they work with along with the brand they use.
BluRay is a very needed thing, especially for Hollywood. They know they can't sell you stuff you can freely download from Pirate Bay. 1080p/uncompressed audio and interactive/connected things may (no guarantee) convince you to pay for quality content. Not a DivX file you can download and play on Samsung $50 deck.
Sony still doesn't ship a "BlueRay Player.app" to OS X. It is amazing since they only need to implement DRM/Copyright protection. VC1-H264 codecs are already implemented on OS X, both Intel and PPC.
If they expect it to be done freely by Apple Inc. who is itself selling HDTV online downloads, they will keep waiting for a while:) Apple has a Leopard/PPC to stabilize, iPhone to enhance and other stuff.
They are ignoring Apple desktop/laptop market who already happily pays for HD content.
It is in Photoshop too. There is no way they won't be warned with address information to contact.
What Playboy does is, watermarking AND hiring companies to spider web for their jpegs. They get alerted and if it is high end enough, they sue them.
The only thing I won't suggest is, using digital watermarking or any kind of hidden data/embedded in political blogs. That immediately raises eyebrows on some "big" machines:)
I remember FEMA claiming that they have predicted this would happen and reported to Govt. but they didn't care.
My post sounded like you would use a super computer to do evil things only so I tried to balance it via New Orleans. In fact, every single less nuclear explosion as result of super computers simulation is a positive thing itself. They will keep stupidly designing/testing them anyway.
Just days ago, I tried so hard to explain why insecure smart phone can be the most evil thing and one can simply own your real life, identity with it. That happens on a technical site. I just couldn't explain to iPhone owners why their data or simply the smart device itself matters.
There are also opposite camp of idiots who thinks running pirated antivirus with root access to their device is a security solution!
I think the "phone" in "smartphone" confuses people. If they understand it is a mini laptop with excellent communications abilities which aren't found on their laptops, things would be easier.
Since when did anyone pay $15.000 bill because their computer got infected by a virus? It is easy and possible on smart phones:) If one is fool/ignorant enough, it is even possible via WAP or J2ME!
Sorry it sounds like a "In Soviet Russia" thing but it is true.
Symbian/WinMobile smart phones have tools to lock the handset remotely or in case of new Kaspersky antivirus/security or other 3rd solutions, you can remotely instruct phone to delete all personal data irrecoverably and lock itself. I am almost sure Blackberry, being an enterprise focused device must have similar option.
Once the Apple decided not to allow background running processes, they lost that possible solution. Not just they don't allow anyone to implement it, they don't implement it themselves too.
It is a completely fool safe thing. User sends a previously set SMS to device, device locks itself. Or in Kaspersky case, it doesn't just lock itself, it wipes its data and optionally transforms itself to a white hat (for you) rootkit/trojan and sends the number of first SIM card plugged to device to previously set number.
Cray and Steve Jobs are interestingly similar thinking people.
If you think about the fact that nobody (except armed guards and some top clearance people) will actually see the supercomputer and guy even uses a Mac Laptop to display a Macromedia powered animation on that case, you can easily think that guys are very similar to each other. That thing you see on machine is actually a Mac Powerbook http://www.spikynorman.dsl.pipex.com/CrayWWWStuff/Criscan/t3d_fr.jpg . Poor thing displays a single animation all its life:)
It is said to have no effect on the image and if done right, it is impossible to destroy it. A webmaster friend who got seriously sick of their (expensively paid) graphics stolen by other sites implemented it to everything. I mean it is not some huge stamp or something:)
I wouldn't be surprised if the actual delivery date was 2012 and some Govt. official said "IBM guys, there is a possibility that Terminator freaks and Mayan 2012 freaks combine, change it to 2011"
Look what CERN had to deal with and still dealing with on HADRON super collider:)
The FAQ also explains why a Beowulf can't match a supercomputer for certain tasks.
What makes me wonder is, what really happened to "Connection Machine" which is a massive break from Von Neumann architecture. It is like a plane compared to a car. How come they didn't evaluate such an invention? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connection_machine
Or is it like hybrid kernels which e.g. Apple took good side of Mach Microkernel but also added monolithic stuff?
The Cray FAQ mentions super computers running on 99% load all the time . I think they still don't have the luxury to waste memory. It is just the programs they run actually needs/will need such a massive memory.
I understand your point but I don't think they let "buy more RAM" idiots to use such super computing power.
Remember the Mathematica on OS X was the first 64bit enabled code on PPC G5 since they (scientists) actually needed maxed out G5s (8 GB and 16GB on Quad G5).
Did you know that a very credible FAQ mentions Apple purchased a Cray for manufacturing/design and someone actually saw them emulate MacOS on that monster?
Do you notice neither USA or Russia blows a portion of planet to test nuclear weapons anymore? It is because the planet is so peaceful so further research is not required? Unfortunately no.
These monsters can simulate a gigantic nuclear explosion in molecular level.
Or for peace purposes, they can actually simulate that New Orleans storm based on real World data and pinpoint exactly what would happen.
Slashdot Mirror
I never had a kernel extension (driver) crash on OS X nor my friends did. You can thank to lack of 3rd party devices for it ;)
I just bought a Serial-USB converter and it naturally comes with a kernel extension which is installed to /System/Extensions.
In light of current story, I wondered what happens if a badly written extension crashes or it doesn't handle the device itself malfunction. Does it get unloaded? Do I get the stylish OSX BSOD? Does it get reloaded (launchd)?
I think if it gets unloaded gracefully or reloaded, Apple's lack of Windows culture is to blame. It was same deal when Safari spitted all kinds of files to users Desktop bug. It took a while to make Apple understand what kind of a horrible security risk it is. I suicidally said on all Apple fan sites "Apple should hire windows only developers to code for Windows".
About the conspiracy... Not just they did actually broke OS X security (Office install under 502 was a big deal), they keep breaking OS X compatibility and performance with possible horrible system wide browser crashes right now. "How?", by giving users option to install this piece of junk: http://preview.tinyurl.com/3blyfx (Windows Media Player for OS X)
Giving away Windows Media Player/PPC, a code not touched since 2003, runs in Browser thread (plugins), has DRM layer running at admin level (nobody knows if it works). A plugin runs in Browser thread, half of Safaris would crash before Apple notices it and guess what? They can't touch third party plugin code too. If it is based on Netscape plugin standard, files are there, it will get loaded.
How hard is it to put: "Up to OS X 10.3.9 and PowerPC only" notice? Did they forget to remove the offer? No! Their site had overhaul recently and those idiots also submitted it to Apple downloads. At least Apple downloads team should say "Stop! What the hell are you doing? Didn't you globally license working (flip4mac) modern code?" and reject it. If they had "Report bad software/malware" link, I wouldn't wait a second to click it.
They know what they are doing. Believe me.
Apple is in fact a merciless company compared to Microsoft. Just watching logs on Leopard would give a clue:
"2008-09-10 17:10:16.835 freedroid[24652:10b] Warning once: This application, or a library it uses, is using NSQuickDrawView, which has been deprecated. Apps should cease use of QuickDraw and move to Quartz."
Being mean to 3rd party you say? No, even Apple themselves aren't free of anything
"Aug 29 12:16:31 quad /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemUIServer.app/Contents/MacOS/SystemUIServer[181]: CPSPBGetProcessInfo(): This call is deprecated and should not be called anymore."
If it was Microsoft, they would still warn but somehow would keep supporting the old API forever. The result? Every Application vendor happily using GDI instead of DirectDraw (or whatever modern framework) and giving users a horrible experience. In OS X, developer knows Apple really means it and just a year or 2 years later, his Application will simply create a polite crash (mentioning 'I told you so' kind of tip) and refuse to run.
Sadly, that results in so called Enterprise keeping to use Windows since there is Microsoft there so they can keep using that 16bit junk library no matter if it works 1/4 of speed so the 80% of market belonging to Apple won't happen. Of course, lets not forget it doesn't mean backward compatibility doesn't exist. If coded cleverly, listening to Apple warnings, Application will run all fine. Proof is ICQ from 2003 still running on Leopard without any warning.
The IBM Z/OS and AIX, Sun Solaris are at such a level that they would alert the respective companies before anything catastrophic actually happens and while systems running on a parallel sysplex backup system without any employee figuring it, IBM/Sun engineers would be fixing the issue. Ask any serious bank why they keep buying/using mainframes.
The term is "Autonomic computing" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomic_Computing
I would investigate the decision maker having genius idea of running a financial, time critical process on Windows 2003 and .NET platform.
My E65 from Nokia had that thing embedded in device ROM. In fact, you can download additional languages via "Download!" in phone root menu. It has a new model (E66) which I am almost sure have same or better feature. The "E" series are business devices and E6x series are the tiniest screen having phones available. It doesn't make sense to pay for some great LCD screens for blind people.
The stuff I talk about could be the "talks" licensed to Nokia BTW.
S60 is a clear winner because of the gigantic 3rd party software market along with excellent J2ME support. It is not just Nokia, any S60 (Symbian) phone is a good choice for scenarios like that.
Nokia is also known for having "TTY" profile in every phone they manufacture. (for the deaf I guess)
Their site dedicated to accessibility is: http://www.nokiaaccessibility.com/
I think it is really hard for some people to understand that not everyone disliking Windows likes Linux or FreeBSD.
If one remembers these are the people who paid more than Windows 95 to IBM and the fact that OS/2 was/is a commercial operating system, it will be easier to understand.
I notice a lot of the OS/2 community migrated to Apple OS X. On the other hand, some people could be still happy with OS/2. It is not Windows 95 or 98, it is a 32 bit operating system still having some software released. One can have both OS/2 on a PC and PS/3 for games.
The interesting thing about OS/2 community is, it is very hard to find any clueless fanatics. Even in 1995, unless you claimed a completely stupid thing like "MS-DOS is better than OS/2" or "Windows 95 is 32bit", they (especially team os/2) would listen.
I am on OS X now and I can't find quality ezines, communities like OS/2. I find myself sometimes posting as AC to Apple related stories since I am sick of fanatic community.
That excellent DOS and Windows (3.1, win32s) support along with IBM's "mainframe" attitude towards ordinary developers marked doom of OS/2. I remember saving a companies accounting department from a massive hardware upgrade just by (ab)using OS/2 DOS support. All software time-warped to 32bit OS along with excellent (and MS written) Filesystem which was ages ahead of FAT. Just think how to convince that software developer to code 32bit OS/2 software while their DOS code runs better than original on OS/2.
Games? Same deal. I remember running Quake (either 1 or 2) while downloading OS/2 updates.
Also look at the OS X gaming scene after Intel. Although great,Mac only game development houses keep coding native games, EA etc. all jumped to Cider ship and selling Windows games to OS X users. They call us "elitist", we are just afraid of what would happen.
You told him to convert it to Java! Confess!
"The US Army use iPhones and develop specific software for it.. you can bet it's encrypted and that remote wipe works."
So to get a secure iphone, you have to apply to marines and become a soldier?
That is my point. All animals must be equal. Every byte of data which isn't part of device ROM is very private data. It doesn't have to be military secret. Your home number is equally private too.
If I was Google guy, I would be very alerted about that recycled joke. People started to make Microsoft jokes about Google, the "Anti Microsoft".
Microsoft has a huge enterprise business, software business, operating systems and even very respected peripheral business. Google has one business: *.google.com . Once that guy doesn't use Google because he believes they are evil, Google is gone for good.
BTW I don't believe a Fortune 500 company cuts/pastes service terms. If they actually do it, it is worse.
Keep hoping for Mac/Linux when they go with Windows Media technology. Remember I said it when you monkey with some unsupported junk, I wonder how will you get past Wmedia DRM. Boot to windows right?
Real is available to anything having 100+ Mhz CPU. I don't mention devices or operating systems. Look to anything in production, Real is supported on it.
They may have passed Sony in electronic sales but this "prediction" alone proves Samsung has a long way to go.
I am staring at 2 Samsung monitors now, got Samsung Plasma, their DVD player and let me say: Electronically high quality stuff but NOT Sony. When you press "source" button 4 times to switch between set top box and attached computer or when you have to colour calibrate your LCD via Pantone Huey, staring at "Windows Vista Compatible!" stupid sticker, you would understand my point.
If Pioneer, JVC, Toshiba (to some extent) predicted something like that, I would read but this time, I don't really care about FA.
I think Samsung has to go to a professional movie/TV studio and look at resolutions they work with along with the brand they use.
BluRay is a very needed thing, especially for Hollywood. They know they can't sell you stuff you can freely download from Pirate Bay. 1080p/uncompressed audio and interactive/connected things may (no guarantee) convince you to pay for quality content. Not a DivX file you can download and play on Samsung $50 deck.
Sony still doesn't ship a "BlueRay Player.app" to OS X. It is amazing since they only need to implement DRM/Copyright protection. VC1-H264 codecs are already implemented on OS X, both Intel and PPC.
If they expect it to be done freely by Apple Inc. who is itself selling HDTV online downloads, they will keep waiting for a while :) Apple has a Leopard/PPC to stabilize, iPhone to enhance and other stuff.
They are ignoring Apple desktop/laptop market who already happily pays for HD content.
No, it is impossible if professional solutions are used.
I am almost sure there must be cheaper, open source solutions too. The famous "Digimarc" technology is used since 1996
https://www.digimarc.com/solutions/images_pro.asp#ensure
It is in Photoshop too. There is no way they won't be warned with address information to contact.
What Playboy does is, watermarking AND hiring companies to spider web for their jpegs. They get alerted and if it is high end enough, they sue them.
The only thing I won't suggest is, using digital watermarking or any kind of hidden data/embedded in political blogs. That immediately raises eyebrows on some "big" machines :)
I was about to add the famous "breakout, superbreakout" joke to my post but I forgot the other names of game.
Using a Mac myself and knowing how evil Mac moderators can be has nothing to do with it of course ;)
I remember FEMA claiming that they have predicted this would happen and reported to Govt. but they didn't care.
My post sounded like you would use a super computer to do evil things only so I tried to balance it via New Orleans. In fact, every single less nuclear explosion as result of super computers simulation is a positive thing itself. They will keep stupidly designing/testing them anyway.
Just days ago, I tried so hard to explain why insecure smart phone can be the most evil thing and one can simply own your real life, identity with it. That happens on a technical site. I just couldn't explain to iPhone owners why their data or simply the smart device itself matters.
There are also opposite camp of idiots who thinks running pirated antivirus with root access to their device is a security solution!
I think the "phone" in "smartphone" confuses people. If they understand it is a mini laptop with excellent communications abilities which aren't found on their laptops, things would be easier.
Since when did anyone pay $15.000 bill because their computer got infected by a virus? It is easy and possible on smart phones :) If one is fool/ignorant enough, it is even possible via WAP or J2ME!
Sorry it sounds like a "In Soviet Russia" thing but it is true.
Symbian/WinMobile smart phones have tools to lock the handset remotely or in case of new Kaspersky antivirus/security or other 3rd solutions, you can remotely instruct phone to delete all personal data irrecoverably and lock itself. I am almost sure Blackberry, being an enterprise focused device must have similar option.
Once the Apple decided not to allow background running processes, they lost that possible solution. Not just they don't allow anyone to implement it, they don't implement it themselves too.
It is a completely fool safe thing. User sends a previously set SMS to device, device locks itself. Or in Kaspersky case, it doesn't just lock itself, it wipes its data and optionally transforms itself to a white hat (for you) rootkit/trojan and sends the number of first SIM card plugged to device to previously set number.
Cray and Steve Jobs are interestingly similar thinking people.
If you think about the fact that nobody (except armed guards and some top clearance people) will actually see the supercomputer and guy even uses a Mac Laptop to display a Macromedia powered animation on that case, you can easily think that guys are very similar to each other. That thing you see on machine is actually a Mac Powerbook http://www.spikynorman.dsl.pipex.com/CrayWWWStuff/Criscan/t3d_fr.jpg . Poor thing displays a single animation all its life :)
You should do what Playboy is said to do with their photos. You should invisibly mark the photo by your credentials.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_watermarking
It is said to have no effect on the image and if done right, it is impossible to destroy it. A webmaster friend who got seriously sick of their (expensively paid) graphics stolen by other sites implemented it to everything. I mean it is not some huge stamp or something :)
I wouldn't be surprised if the actual delivery date was 2012 and some Govt. official said "IBM guys, there is a possibility that Terminator freaks and Mayan 2012 freaks combine, change it to 2011"
Look what CERN had to deal with and still dealing with on HADRON super collider :)
I can easily say that Apple and Cray connection is a valid claim since a very high profile Cray guy confirms it on the Cray FAQ:
http://www.spikynorman.dsl.pipex.com/CrayWWWStuff/Cfaqp3.html#TOC23
The FAQ also explains why a Beowulf can't match a supercomputer for certain tasks.
What makes me wonder is, what really happened to "Connection Machine" which is a massive break from Von Neumann architecture. It is like a plane compared to a car. How come they didn't evaluate such an invention?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connection_machine
Or is it like hybrid kernels which e.g. Apple took good side of Mach Microkernel but also added monolithic stuff?
The Cray FAQ mentions super computers running on 99% load all the time . I think they still don't have the luxury to waste memory. It is just the programs they run actually needs/will need such a massive memory.
I understand your point but I don't think they let "buy more RAM" idiots to use such super computing power.
Remember the Mathematica on OS X was the first 64bit enabled code on PPC G5 since they (scientists) actually needed maxed out G5s (8 GB and 16GB on Quad G5).
Did you know that a very credible FAQ mentions Apple purchased a Cray for manufacturing/design and someone actually saw them emulate MacOS on that monster?
http://www.spikynorman.dsl.pipex.com/CrayWWWStuff/Cfaqp3.html#TOC23
I bet they tried some games too :)
Do you notice neither USA or Russia blows a portion of planet to test nuclear weapons anymore? It is because the planet is so peaceful so further research is not required? Unfortunately no.
These monsters can simulate a gigantic nuclear explosion in molecular level.
Or for peace purposes, they can actually simulate that New Orleans storm based on real World data and pinpoint exactly what would happen.